


My Enemy, My Friend

by marmolita



Category: Marvel Avengers Movies Universe, The Avengers (2012)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-07-20
Updated: 2012-07-20
Packaged: 2017-11-10 07:59:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 699
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/464002
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/marmolita/pseuds/marmolita
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>To Natasha, there are three types of people:</i>
</p>
<p>
  <i>1) People she knows she would kill in a fight<br/>2) People she knows would kill her in a fight, and<br/>3) People with whom it could go either way. </i>
</p>
            </blockquote>





	My Enemy, My Friend

**Author's Note:**

> Written for [Prosodi](http://archiveofourown.org/users/prosodi), who requested for Clint and Natasha and Natasha and Steve when I asked for ficlet requests.

To Natasha, there are three types of people:

1) People she knows she would kill in a fight  
2) People she knows would kill her in a fight, and  
3) People with whom it could go either way. 

The first group holds no interest for her. She interacts with them when she has to, and tries to be polite, but it’s hard not to think about how easy it would be to kill them, and each of the 257 ways she could do it before they even had a chance to scream.

The second group is a very, very small group indeed. In fact, the Hulk may be the only one in it. Natasha has no question that if the Hulk ever decided he wanted to kill her, she wouldn’t stand a chance. The fact of the Hulk promotes Dr. Banner to the third group.

The third group makes up the vast majority of Natasha’s associates, both friends and enemies. After all, an enemy who is not a challenge isn’t worth being called an enemy.

The first time she saw Clint Barton, she didn’t think of him as an enemy. The fact that she knew he was watching her and she wasn’t dead made her classify him as someone easy to kill. It wasn’t until later, when she found out that he had had plenty of opportunities to kill her before the first time she saw him, that she decided he was worth being an enemy. Fortunately for the both of them, that was also when Natasha decided to defect to SHIELD, and they became friends instead.

“Friends” is a strange term to Natasha. For the most part, it means enemies who happen to be on the same side as she is. Clint, though, Clint is something more than that. Clint is someone she doesn’t expect to ever be on opposing sides with again. He’s someone she trusts to always have her back, someone she trusts enough to let him see her when she’s injured or sick. She trusts him to always do what needs to be done. Clint is one of the few people Natasha has had sex with for the simple reason that she wanted to.

In some ways, he is a lot like James.

In some ways, he is nothing like James. The one thing she could always trust about James was that she couldn’t trust him at all.

For a long time, Natasha’s friends were few in number. Clint, Phil, Fury. She could probably take out the rest of SHIELD single-handedly. Now, that number has expanded dramatically in a short time, and it is a bit hard to come to terms with. Tony Stark, she knows she could kill; Iron Man is a different story. It is something like Dr. Banner and the Hulk, although she thinks she is more likely to be able to kill Tony before he can get into the suit than she is to be able to harm Bruce. Thor is an unusual case: Natasha is pretty sure she can manipulate him into a vulnerable position, but she isn’t sure at all what sort of injury it would take to actually kill him.

Steve is a mystery. The very fact that he has trusted her implicitly since the moment they met makes her uncomfortable. At the same time, she finds herself respecting him a great deal. He has no hesitation to do what is necessary and his enhanced musculature makes him a match for anyone. He can keep fighting through injuries that would take even Clint out of the action. Natasha thinks that if he had to, Steve wouldn’t hesitate to kill her.

He would kill her, and then when the danger was past, he would put his head in his hands and mourn. Natasha is also certain of this. It’s something she doesn’t -- can’t -- understand. When Natasha says, “Love is for children,” she means it. It’s something she hasn’t felt since before the Red Room. She doesn’t think she’s capable of it anymore. Steve, though, Steve has so much pain and anger inside of him and it’s all because he loves so deeply. Somehow, that is something that Natasha respects.


End file.
